If seeing is believing, then Derrick Rose is looking ever so much closer to his highly-anticipated return.
Just before the Chicago Bulls were blown out 102-72 by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday, Rose, their superstar point guard, raised eyebrows--and hopes--when he was seen being able to dunk the basketball, a huge visible improvement on the health of his surgically repaired left ACL.
Bulls fans remember well the image of Rose, the 2010-11 NBA MVP and 2008-09 Rookie of the Year, clutching his left knee in agony, lying on the wooden floors of the United Center in Chicago with just over a minute left in Game 1 of the first round of the NBA Playoffs last season on April 28.
In that game, Rose tore his ACL after landing awkwardly during a jump shot attempt.
Since that time, Rose has been on a 10-month quest to rehabilitate his knee, slowly making progress as he attempts to regain the explosive step and quickness that helped to make him arguably the best point guard in the NBA prior to his injury, as well as make the Bulls a legitimate NBA title threat.
Yet, while he has looked good, Rose said recently that he was still far from making his return, not wanting to come back unless he was 110 percent ready to go.
"I don't have a set date," Rose told USA TODAY Sports. "I'm not coming back until I'm 110 [percent]. Who knows when that can be? It can be within a couple of weeks. It could be next year. It could be any day. It could be any time. It's just that I'm not coming back until I'm ready."
However, sources close to the Bulls superstar say that Rose is a lot closer to coming back than people think.
"I think it's up here now,'' a Bulls player told the Chicago Sun-Times Friday night when asked how close Rose was to returning. "I know it's not [his heart]. We all know that, but he's ready . . . he's ready, man.
"Anyone who saw him in the [five-on-five] scrimmages [last week] knows he's ready. But it's his body, so he's gotta believe it," the player added.
Russell Westbrook, the Oklahoma City Thunder's All-Star point guard and a friend of Rose, told the newspaper that Rose was looking closer to a return than ever.
''I've communicated with him a few times. I see that he's getting better. He's almost close to coming back," he said.